


From Bad to Worse

by Paladin_Willa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst!!!!, Feels, Half-breed Galra!Keith!!!, IT TOOK ME DAYS TO WRITE THIS THING!!!, Lance is changed but only temporarily!!, Lotor might be OOC, Multi, OC's are cool, PRISONER AU!!, There's torture, at least I think so, everyone's very protective of Lance!!!, he's precious to them, hope you like it!!, i don't know where Lotor comes from originally so ya!!!, keeps the team sane!!, lance curses in spanish!!, major angst, they do something to Lance!, zarkon is a major jerk!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-12 18:05:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9083419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paladin_Willa/pseuds/Paladin_Willa
Summary: Lance crashes down onto a planet after coming out of the wormhole and gets injured along with Blue. After a little of being on the planet, Galra come and are able to take him down. the Galra take Lance and Blue captive and there, they discover that Keith is there too. After months of being Galra prisoners, Lance, Keith and the other prisoners make an escape plan, but Lance sacrifices his freedom so that Keith and the other prisoners won't have to stay in Galra hands anymore. Allura and the other Paladins learn that Lance is still in Galra hands and come up with a plan to rescue him. Will Voltron come to Lance's rescue or will it be too late?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so here’s the prisoner AU that I thought of. So, i planned on this being a one-shot, but I felt that it was starting to be too long. So instead this will hopefully only be two chaps long! We'll see though. Ok, also, if you have any questions or just wanna talk about anything(ships, AU’s, problems, etc) you can talk to me on Tumblr: paladinwilla, or on Twitter: Paladin Willa. Ok, now the story!!  
> Also, side note, I'm having a strong dislike for AO3 right now because it froze and I had to close the tab and redo everything. I don't remember the summary so sorry about the sucky one that i put since my other one was forgotten. stupid website.

Lance yelled out as Blue spun out of control through the air and came out of the corrupted wormhole. As they continued to fly the spinning got faster and more painful as he was pushed into the seat and he felt his muscles and bones screaming. He continued yelling in pain as Blue tried comforting him in his pain but it didn’t help at all. In the distance he saw a planet that was covered in oceans and saw that they were heading towards it. They entered the atmosphere spinning and went down to the surface, spinning painfully still and fell towards a piece of land in the endless ocean.

They hit the ground, spinning and tumbling across the soil with lance falling from his seat and banging his head against the different things inside Blue. the tumbling eventually stopped with trees holding out and having Blue’s head go up, facing the sky. All around, red flashed as the screens beeped alarms saying things were broken and needed repairs. Lance slowly sat up after a few tries and saw on the screen that Blue only had enough energy to put up a distress beacon to the Castle and other Lions and keep the barrier up since they didn’t know what was on the planet and if they were nice or bad.

Lance’s vision swam as he continued looking and soon the pain from the injuries he got became too much and he fell back down, vision darkening and hearing Blue’s concerned rumbled in his head.

**XXX A Week Later XXX**

Lance looks out the windows at the forest they’re in for the hundredth time. Since the crash he’s healed well but he still has a concussion, dislocated shoulder and a fractured forearm. But he’s determined not to give up and still makes repairs to Blue if he’s able, though she won’t allow him to leave her barrier because of these injuries. He can’t say no to his friend since she just wants to keep him safe from that attack they did to Zarkon’s base. The panel beeps frantically and Lacne looks over and sees it zooming in on a ship coming through the atmosphere.

What feels like a stone drops in Lance’s stomach and he knows that he’s in trouble. As the ship gets closer, Lance is shown right because the ship coming at him is a Galra ship, easily recognized by the Galra Empire’s symbol on it. He grabbed his bayard from where it laid on his chair and it changed into his gun. He ran out of Blue and looked out the barrier and saw the ship land outside of it and run up, banging against it. He raised his gun and leveled it at the soldiers, dislocated shoulder screaming in protest, before he started shooting at the droids.

The laser bullets shot across the space and Blue made small gaps to allow the lasers through and it hit the droids. More came from the ship and soon more ships came down and landed beside the first. Lance started shooting more and his shots soon became less accurate and the pounding against the barrier became louder. He grunted out as the banging seemed to intensify in his head and he grabbed his head, pulling his hair slightly. He looked up and saw that a few fighters were shooting at the barrier hoping to weaken it and get through.

Lance let his head go and leveled his gun at the droids again and started shooting them. A droid seemed to realize how he was fighting and as a shot went through the barrier toward it, and let off a series of shots back. A few went through the gap before it closed and Lance barely reacted in time. The lasers streaked across as he dove, they hit him on his arm and chest pushing him back. He flew into Blue’s paw, grunting and groaning as he rolled off and hit the ground, clutching his injured arm to his injured chest, vision flickering from the hit to the head. He groaned on the ground and tried sitting up but fell back down as a horrible pain washed over him.

He laid on his side and looked up at Blue and saw the state she was in, she wasn’t in good condition, paneling was pulled off, wires out and some charred, joints popped out and cracked, the eyes had huge cracks going through them, and finally the jaw didn’t close all the way, the connector pulled out and dangling with cracks running all through it. It’s amazing the jaw hadn’t fallen out yet. Lance then heard a buzz and static and turned to see the barrier flickering. The strain of holding it against all the fire without being repaired taking its toll on Blue’s limited power.

Finally the barrier collapsed and Lance finally fell unconscious to the Galra cheer and footsteps and to Blue’s sorrowful rumbles in his head.

**XXX**

Keith looked up from the floor as his cell door opened. He’d been a Galra captive for five days, they found him two days after being spitted out of the corrupted wormhole. Red was well hidden by the Black Lion when they crashed together but he couldn’t get Black to open for him so he hoped that Black was taking care of Shiro. He had gone out to scavenge for food and see if there were any inhabitants when the Galra came down. He got them to follow him away from the Lions but ended up getting hurt and captured.

When they brought him in, they healed the few injuries he had before throwing him into the cold cell in their prison garb with new items attached. He had a collar that looked like it would shock the person and they placed earrings on him that he found out the hard way emitted a painful screech that only affected his ears since no one else grabbed at their ears and there were these bracelets on his wrist that were used as cuffs.

A Galra soldier stood at the door and was holding someone that looked familiar. The guard threw the person and their face went up as they fell and Keith immediately recognized Lance. He scrambled forward and caught Lance before his head hit the cold, metal ground. The door closed after Lance was placed in and Keith dragged them back to the wall opposite the door and cradled Lance to his chest. “Lance?” Keith spoke, voice cracking as he saw wrappings around Lance’s left arm and shoulder. He knew the Galra most likely healed Lance but they would still wrap it to make sure it was healed fine the next day.

Lance’s eyes flickered opened and he squinted in the dim lighting to look up at Keith. “They got you too, Keith?” Lance asked quietly and Keith nodded.

“About five days ago or something when I left Black and Red to check the surroundings and find food. They didn’t get Shiro at least, but we need to hope Black’s keeping him safe. How--how did they get you?” Keith hesitated in asked but continued through and Lance nodded slowly wincing slightly as his head protested.

“I got injured in the crash and Blue wasn’t in good shape. I got a concussion, dislocated shoulder, and a fractured forearm. After a week of being on the planet, the Galra came and pounded against the barrier. I got rid of quite a few of those droids before they managed to hit me with their guns when my blasts went through an opening. After that, they managed to get the barrier down since all the battling was taking a lot of energy from Blue. I-I don’t know if Blue was taken or not. I can barely feel or hear her!” Lance said, voice cracking as he talked about Blue.

“You can barely feel her?” Keith asked and Lance nodded. “I’m sure the closer you get to her, the stronger it’ll become,” Keith said, hoping it would reassure Lance. He knew Lance cared about Blue deeply and come to rely on that presence in his mind to keep him calm. With it being so weak, it would freak anyone out. “We’ll be fine, I’ll make sure of it,” he said and Lance nodded again.

“At least we’re in this together,” Lance said softly and Keith nodded. Keith heard footsteps and the door hissed open again, this time, it was a druid, Haggar, with a guard behind her. She snapped her finger and the guard walked forward. Keith clutched Lance’s body to him as the guard came closer and growled. The guard then raised a device and pressed something on it and Keith yelled out as electricity coursed through his body. He slumped back, his grip slackening as the electricity continued to course through and the guard grabbed Lance from his lap and pressed the button again.

Keith’s breaths came in raggedly from the shocking he got and he watched hazily as the guard walked back to the door. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you later,” Haggar said and Keith didn’t like that and the door closed behind them. Haggar led the guard to her interrogation room and the guard placed Lance on a metal table and shackled him to it. The cold bit into Lance as he looked between the druid and guard weakly. “Lord Zarkon wishes to learn where your friends are hiding,” she said and Lance growled at her.

“Like I’d tell you anything! I won’t betray my friends!” he shouted struggling against the shackles and Haggar cackled.

“You won’t get out,” she said before shooting lightning at him and he yelled out. “You can make the pain stop by telling us what we want to know,” she said.

“¡Nunca te diré bastardo! **(I'll never tell you bastard!)** ” Lance shouted in his native tongue.

“Very well, Paladin,” she sneered and continued to shock him.

**XXX**

It went on for a few weeks like that, they would take either Keith or Lance and start torturing them to get info only for them to curse them and not say a word. A few guards came and opened the door to them huddling together to keep warm in the cold cell and they went up to them. The guards pulled them apart and then pulled their arms behind their backs and clipped them together. The droids then marched the two through the halls as they looked at each other uneasily as they moved closer to the shouting of the arena. They knew the horrors of the arena from Shiro and were not looking forward to going into the kill or be killed zone.

They soon entered the hall leading to the prisoner entrance to the arena and around them were other prisoners and they all moved uneasily. In the arena, a prisoner was fighting a giant gladiator and on the ground was another prisoner but they didn’t move. Lance’s breathing got faster and shallower as the fight continued as both he and Keith were being pushed toward the front. He felt an arm touching his and turned to see Keith leaning slightly onto him and looking at him. “We got this,” Keith whispered trying to calm Lance down. “Fight for the team, fight for me. Fight to survive,” Keith continued in his hushed tone and soon they were in front of the other prisoners and Lance nodded slowly.

Soon the prisoner out their fell and they were unchained and pushed forward. Two guards stood there each holding a weapon, one a sword, the other a staff. Lance hesitantly reached out and took the staff and Keith took the sword. In the arena they heard a voice. “ _ Please welcome the almighty Blue and Red _ Paladin's,” the voice sneered and the guards pushed them out onto the rink as all around they heard boos and jeers. They walked out to the center of the arena slowly, scars covered their bodies from all the torture, and a door opposite opened up showing the gladiator from before. Lance swallowed the lump in his throat as the figure lumbered toward them holding it’s own weapon. Lance looked over at Keith and he nodded toward Lance and looked back toward the gladiator.

“Come on,” Keith said rushing forward and Lance followed him. They attacked the gladiator together and it stumbled back. They fought in sync together and dodged every attack the gladiator threw at them. Eventually, after many hours and much fighting, they finally killed the gladiator and some people cheered for them, mostly the other prisoners, while everyone else were silent, glowering at them. The guards then came out and they lowered themselves into fighting stances again.

Haggar was with them and she held her hand out at Keith and Keith stiffened, looking at Haggar with wide eyes as a droid walked forward with a syringe full of something. Lance ran over only to be shocked painfully and he fell to the ground writhing in pain and watched as they put the needle into Keith’s neck. “Keith!” Lance choked out in pain and watched as Keith’s eyes glazed and Haggar let her hold go and Keith fell forward into the guard's arms all drugged up. “No!” Lance shouted and another guard came over to him and cuffed him leading him away.

Lance struggled against the guard’s hold trying to get back to Keith as he was carried behind Haggar. Lance redoubled his struggles when he saw the guard was leading him somewhere else, toward the fighters they fought in. “What are you doing!?” Lance shouted and the guard laughed.

“You’re going to be used to power a fighter like the other prisoners to battle Voltron, scum,” he growled to Lance and Lance tried getting out of the hold again.

“I won’t help you take them down!” he shouted and the guard just laughed as they continued to the fighters and Lance saw other prisoners being led there as well. They arrived at the fighters and Lance was pushed into the nearest one and had wires attached to his collar and wrists and the guard unclasped his wrists. The door leading into the fighter was closed and everything turned on and Lance yelled out as his body seemed to burn from the inside out as the fighter pulled energy from him. He looked down at his wrists after he numbed out the pain and saw that it was glowing and made the assumption the collar and earrings were also glowing.

The fighter lifted up and a screen showed him what happened and he saw that other fighters also lifted and followed a fighter bigger than the rest and assumed that one was controlling the fighters that had prisoners in them. The fighters flew out of the battleship and followed the big fighter to a distant planet where he saw a familiar sight that had tears come to his eyes. In the distance was the Castle of Lions and in front was Yellow, Green and Black floating in all their glory as they awaited the Galra ships.

In the Castle, Allura and Coran watched as fighters came toward them and she pulled open a channel to the battleship that was pointed at them. “Galra ship, This is Princess Allura of planet Altea. We’ve come for the Red and Blue Paladins. Return them to us,” she said and the Galra commander on screen laughed.

“ _ The Blue Paladin is closer that you think, _ ” he said with a smirk and they watched one fighter, this a small one, come forward before stopping and a few fighters started shooting at it. Over the comms they heard a sound that made their blood freeze, Lance’s screams of pain.

“Stop it!” she shouted and they continued firing and Allura turned to a screen that had Shiro’s face in it as he waited in Black. His face had fury on it as they heard Lance’s screams of pain as he was attacked in the ship. She nodded at him and he shot forward with Yellow and Green behind him as they went forward to stop the pain Lance felt. “Make sre to not hit any other small fighter, we don’t know if those have prisoners in them,” she said and Shiro nodded.

Black went forward toward the ship getting fired at and all the shooting gets turned to them and the fighter goes back, heading toward the battleship where Lance would feel so much more pain. They attacked the ships and another battleship came up to them as the fighter holding Lance entered the first one. “ _ No! _ ” Shiro shouted as the hanger closed behind Lance and all the ships continued firing at them. “ _ Princess, we can’t keep fighting! They’re too much for us right now,” _ Shiro said and Allura nodded sadly, she knew the Paladin’s were still shaken up by being separated for almost two months and that the Lions needed repairs still.

“Alright, I’ll prepare a wormhole and we’ll leave,” she said defeatedly and Shiro nodded as she punched in coordinates for the one place she knew would help them and would be safe, Arus. A wormhole appeared behind them and Allura got the Castle-ship to turn around. “The Wormhole is open, go!” she shouted and Shiro nodded, getting everyone to turn and head through the wormhole to the peaceful planet of Arus.

Fighters shoot at them as they make their escape. As they make it through the wormhole everyone sighs in defeat. After almost two months of searching for Keith and Lance, they finally found them in the Galra battleship. They fly the Lions into the Castle and land in the bay where all the Lions can be together and Shiro looks over at Red who was on her side in disrepair. They all leave their lions as Allura and Coran come into the bay with sullen looks. Pidge and Hunk walk over to Red to work on her more as she was still badly damaged from her fight against Zarkon and then from the crash onto the planet.

“We’ll need to plan some more then,” Shiro said as Allura walked up to him and she nodded sadly. He could tell it hurt her that two of her Paladins, friends, family even, where in Zarkon’s hands, not knowing what was happening to them. “It’s ok,” Shiro whispered hugging Allura and tears caught in her throat and she simply tightened her hold on Shiro. Shiro rubbed soothing circles on Allura’s back to help her and she continued to hold on him as Coran looked sadly at them. He cared about Lance deeply and had gotten Keith to talk to him when something happened. He didn’t like the thought of the two of them being in Zarkon’s hands and wished there was something they could do to get them out sooner. “We’ll get them back, that’s a promise,” Shiro spoke loud so that everyone heard and nodded, knowing Shiro would keep that promise.

**XXX**

Another month has passed, or what Lance assumed has been a month. He can’t tell since there’s no way to keep track of time since they don’t even give food and water at the same time each day or at all. He and Keith have gone days without food or water while others, they had scraps of food. Whenever Lance could, he’d give Keith a bit extra of his own scrapes so that he had more strength. Keith never noticed though since they Galra put a drug in him making him dazed, pliant, all resistance gone. Though, once in the arena, that daze was gone and he was bloodthirsty.

It scared Lance that they somehow managed to make the fiery Keith so plaint and then once in the arena, so deadly. Though, he’s had some luck, they’ve occasionally been put with the other prisoners there that they’ve prevented from fighting, which allowed them to plan an escape, granted Keith couldn’t really participate due to the drug in his systems. They’ve been planning the escape for a while know, they planned on doing it soon. Until the plan took effect, Lance pushed through the days, always fighting to survive another day in the fights.

Lance looked out onto the arena where a couple droids were cleaning up the last battle which had a traitor from one of the previously conquered planets been killed. Lance felt panic grow in his chest, tears start going down his cheeks as he thought about all he’s done and killed and he becomes disgusted by himself and what he’s turned to. It’s common for him to start having a small breakdown before a fight, remembering all the horrible things he’s done in that arena just to survive even though it goes everything he fought for.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Keith there, placing his hand there. Keith’s eyes flashed with determination as Lance continued staring at the golden-purple eyes. About a week ago, the Galra realized Keith was a half-breed and worked to get it out, which they succeeded in doing. Keith now had the golden eyes but with his old purple very faint making a faint iris outline, his Galra ears, smaller than the average Galra ears, his skin was a faint purple, along his body was the light purple fur, he was now the same height as Lance and his hair had a small purple hint to it. At first Lance didn’t recognize Keith, but then he saw it and hugged Keith as he freaked out, calming him from his panic attack.

“You can do this, Lance. Fight for me, do this for me. For everyone prisoner here,” he said for he knew Lance would fight to survive it was to help other people. Lance nodded, the panic gone from his eyes, replaced by a steely determination to protect the prisoners that can’t protect themselves and grabbed the staff from the droid in front of him as Keith took the sword from the other droid. The fight lasted an hour or tock, since they’ve been fighting in the arena, they’ve gotten even stronger and faster, able to defeat an opponent faster than before. The droids came forward and chained Lance as the other quickly placed a syringe into Keith’s neck before chaining him. Keith was then dragged out of the arena as Lance walked, occasionally being pushed forward or tripped out of spite.

They came up to a hall and Keith was lead to the cells as Lance was turned down a different one to where Haggar did her torture spree. They came up to the room and there was a guard there who opened the door allowing them into the room. In the center was a table with runes and old blood from many people that she either tortured for info or experimented on. He was shackled to the table and the dreaded druid walked up to him with a smile.

**XXX**

Another two weeks have passed and Lance huddled with the other prisoners who planned on escaping. Lance clutched Keith to his chest since he just came back from a torture, shaking and wide eyed. He rubbed Keith’s arms soothingly as Keith turned his head to burrow into Lance’s chest and he smiled slightly at that. It was a funny thought for him, at first he and Keith had butted heads multiple times then they had the bonding moment and became friends and now they were even closer. Lance hoped that once they get free, he’d be able to finally tell Keith how he feels, since they did grow closer from this experience.

“So,  Keith and I will attack the guards that come to separate us and get their weapons and make our way to the escape pods. Ketzar,” Lance looked over to an alien that has a tall, lean body with long skinny arms, “you stay to the back and keep an eye on the rear, make sure no one sneaks up on us. Ok?” he asked and Ketzar nodded agreement. In the distance outside of the room they heard the muffled steps of soldiers and they looked at each other. “Get ready!” he said and he then shook Keith lightly. Keith looked up and nodded his head getting into a ready position and Lance followed suite.

The door opened and both Keith and Lance ran forward and tackled the droid guards to the ground and ripped their robotic heads off. The wires sizzled from where they were disconnected and Lance grabbed a blaster and held it ready as they made their way through the ship with the prisoners behind them. They encountered many soldiers and Lance shot them down before they could start shooting and soon, the number of encounters and guards increased as they got closer to the escape pods even though they snuck around the ship.

They entered the hall leading to the pods and Lance had everyone go ahead of him. Keith stopped at the door after making sure it was empty and looked back toward Lance. “Lance, are you coming?” he asked and Lance looked back as the sound of footsteps got closer.

“Go on, escape. I--i’ll catch up. Just need to do something to prevent them from catching up,” he said determined to make sure they escaped. Even if he didn’t make it off, he’ll make sure that Keith at least got back to the others, he knew the risk and just hoped if he did get trapped the’d rescue him fast, plus, if Blue really was on the ship, he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her. Keith nods hesitantly and runs through the door right as the guards, living and droid, come through and Lance shoots them as he backs up slowly. He soon makes it to a panel for the pods and looks over at the prisoners. He nods to Keith as he slams his hand onto the panel closing the pod door and pressing another button and the pod started sliding from its place.

Keith pounded on the window as they moved away from Lance. He cried Lance’s name as they got ejected from the ship and one of the prisoners that flew before went to the controls and started piloting them away as Keith rested his hands and forehead against the now cold window, watching the Galra battleship get smaller as they got farther from it and Lance. Tears made themselves known by sliding down his cheeks and one of the prisoners walked forward, an alien woman that was the same species as Nyma who had children, pulled him away gently from the door and lead him to a chair and sat him down and then sat next to him. Another prisoner came toward them with a blanket they found in a cupboard and the woman grabbed it and placed it around Keith’s shoulders before pulling him into an embrace, his head rested on her shoulder as he rubbed his arms.

Fresh tears came out and he buried his head into her shoulder and she hummed a comforting song from her home planet and he eventually calmed down. He looked up at the woman who smiled reassuringly at him and he nodded thanks back. “I better go make sure we’re heading to a friendly planet,” he said and the woman nodded as he got up, the blanket falling from his shoulders and he walked to the front. He placed a hand on the pilot's shoulder, careful to keep his claws from their skin. “Where are we?” he asked once the pilot looked at him.

“I was able to go into a slipstream and get us near the Empire’s edge,” the alien said and Keith nodded.

“We should go to Arus, I know the people there, they’ll help us,” Keith said and the alien nodded agreement as he turned back to the panel and started going through the map.

“Ok, so we should be close to Arus and get there in a few tocks,” he said and Keith nodded.

“I’ll tell the others that,” Keith said and he made his way back to the others. They all looked up at him and he looked straight back to the pods window. “We’re heading toward Arus, a friendly planet that will help us. We’ll be there in a few tocks,” he said and everyone aboard nodded and sighed in relief. Though a few looked at Keith in sympathy since his friend is still in Galra hands, with who knows what’s happening to him right then.

**XXX**

Lance’s face whipped to the side as the Commander in front of him slapped him. Lance looked back towards him and smirked in triumph. “You’re too late. They’ve escaped, you’ll never find them,” he said and the Commander snarled at him.

“You’ll tell us where they went,” he growled at Lance and Lance shook his head.

“I’ll never tell you. Even if I did know where they piloted the pod, I’d never tell you,” he said and the Commander slapped him across the face again, this time, dragging his claw over Lance’s cheek making three lines of blood.

“You will,” he growled before leaving and Haggar came in the room smiling at him and Lance had a feeling of dread overcame him. Haggar stepped forward and hooked cords up to his collar and placed a mask over his mouth and nose that looked like the breathing masks used in hospitals back on Earth.

Hours passed after Haggar did her twisted experiment\torture thing and Lance was proud to say he didn’t spill anything. Though his body hurt all over and it felt like he was run over by a freight train multiple times and was burned. He was unchained from the chair he was in and two guards dragged him down halls and Lance wondered where he was being taken. They went to a large set of doors that hissed open and he was dragged inside to what he instantly recognized as a throne room and Zarkon sat on a throne. They walked up to it and threw Lance forward so that he landed with a harsh thud in front of Zarkon, unable to stop his fall by his hands being clasped together behind him.

“Ahh, the Blue Paladin, we meet at last,” Zarkon said holding Lance’s bayard in his hands. Lance growled at Zarkon which earned him a hit to the back of his head. “Are you going to tell us what you know?” he asked and Lance growled again.

“Never! ¡Moriría primero antes de traicionar a mi equipo! **(I'd die first before I'd betray my team!)** ,” Lance shouted and Zarkon glared at him.

“You’ll change your mind after what we do to you. You’ll willingly tell and join us,” Zarkon said as the guards came forward and picked Lance up and dragged him backwards.

“¡Nunca te diré nada bastardo! **(I'll never tell you anything you bastard!)** ,” Lance shouted in his native language and started spewing insults and curses at Zarkon and the Empire.

“It will be fun breaking his fiery resistance and will,” Zarkon mused and the guards in the room nodded agreement.

**XXX**

Allura looked over at Coran as he pulled up an image of the ship coming through Arus’s atmosphere. “Can you tell what ship that is?” she asked and Coran nodded.

“Yes princess. It appears to be a Galra escape pod. No clue as to whom it may be though,” he said and Allura nodded.

“Shiro, you and Hunk will come with me to investigate this escape pod,” she said and Shiro nodded.

“ _ Alright. Meet you guys at the entrance, _ ” Hunk said over the comms. They then started down through the Castle toward the entrance that led to the bridge that went to the hill and path to the Arusian village. When they first arrived, the Arusians were quite happy to see them again and also quite willing to help them. They arrived at the grand hall and Hunk was there waiting for them and they all went to the entrance together and Allura spoke through her earrings.

“Coran, can you estimate where the ship will land?” she asked and they heard shuffling.

“ _ I should but we don’t know if the ship was damaged, so it could very well be able to steer anywhere--Oh, it turned! _ ” Coran shouted and they all looked up. “ _ It’s heading toward the Castle, Allura! _ ” he shouted and they could see that it indeed was heading toward the Castle. Hunk pulled his bayard out and held it ready in its deactivated form, ready in case whoever’s inside was not friendly. Through the window they saw figures moving around and the door opened.

A Galra like person was there that looked like Keith, except for the fact that his hair was longer, his eyes were gold with just a hint of purple for irises and he was Galra. “Shiro!” the person shouted rushing forward and hugging Shiro in a strong grip and Shiro looked down at them in confusion.

“K-keith?” Shiro asked stumbling and the Galra leaned back before nodding. “What happened?” he asked and Keith stepped back fully.

“It seems that I’m actually half Galra, a ‘half-breed’ as they put it. Once that was discovered, they worked on making it come out. After that, Lance helped…me…...calm……down,” Keith spoke and his words got spaced out as he thought about something, eyes becoming clouded slightly. He then rushed forward and gripped Shiro’s armor collar and shook it slightly. “Lance is still there! We need to get him out!” Keith shouted as other prisoners walked out and they all looked at him and saw the desperate look in his eyes.

“Wait, Lance isn’t with you?” Hunk asked, dread lacing his voice and Keith nodded.

“We were escaping and he said he’d follow after making sure the soldiers were delayed, only he shot the pod out before they got into the room,” Keith said looking over at Hunk and Hunk saw that Lance’s sacrifice had taken a toll on Keith.

“Keith, we’ll save Lance. We just need to make a plan and get you and these other prisoners into healing pods,” Shiro said and Allura nodded agreement.

“We will save Lance,” she said and Keith looked over at her before allowing Shiro to lead him to the healing chamber. Allura turned to thee prisoners and smiled at them. “Now, please follow me and we’ll get you into healing pods. Once out we’ll get you some food and some better clothes,” she said and they all nodded. She then led them through the Castle and heard their gasps and awed sighs and smiled, happy to have them excited at seeing the Castle since that meant they weren’t scared over anything.

Soon, all the prisoners and Keith were in healing pods and Coran looked at them. “All these ex-prisoners should be out sometime tomorrow. Keith, though, he’ll take a little longer,” Coran said and Shiro looked at the advisor.

“How long?” he asked and Coran swallowed a lump in his throat.

“In four to five days,” he said and Shiro’s mouth opened.

“Why?” he asked and Coran looked grimly back towards Keith’s unconscious form.

“Well, they’ve done many things to Keith, with forcing his Galra side out to torture that didn’t heal correctly. It’s amazing that he’d get out after maybe four to five days. I suspect that lance won’t be in any better shape,” Coran said and Hunk looked away, not wanting to think about that.

“Well, let’s go start planning on a rescue for Lance,” Shiro said and they all nodded before heading up to the bridge where Pidge was already working on finding the Battleship that help Lance and Blue. “Have you found anything Pidge?” he asked and Pidge looked over at him.

She turned back to the screen at her station and moved a strand of her longer hair behind her ear. “Well, I found from Green that I can make a frequency satellite that will send out long waved of Blue’s frequency and find her without any Galra knowing, but,” she looked between them and her screen, a look of sadness, guilt and pain flashing across.

“Take your time,” Shiro said gently and Pidge nodded.

“But, we won’t be able to track Lance. They knew the helmets and armors could be tracked and it seems they destroyed them. The Red and Blue trackers are dead so that could only mean that their armor was destroyed when they were captured by the Galra,” she explained sadly and Shiro nodded.   
“So that makes finding Lance harder,” Shiro said and they all nodded. “Can you find what ship Blue is on for now? Once Keith gets out of the healing pod, we can see if he knows what ship he was on,” he continued and everyone nodded agreement.

**XXX**

Lance looked at the floor, a foul taste in his mouth from everything that he’s been through. He just wishes it all be over. He’s lost any hope of his team coming for him since it’s already been another month since Keith was able to escape with the other prisoners. He feels so used, he thought Keith actually cared, that he actually had a place on the team and was useful, apparently not. He heard a faint rumble in his mind and questioned what it was, he’s been alone with his thoughts for so long that hearing something else worried him. He heard another rumble that was sad sounding and was further confused by it.

Though he found himself lucky since for the past few days nothing has been done to him for wish he thanks since he was able to get snatches of sleep. His hands were clasped behind him as he kneeled on the ground in front of the throne that Zarkon usually sat at, but for some reason he wasn’t there right then. A door slide open with a slight creak and he heard heavy footsteps. He raised his head and saw that Zarkon had finally graced him with his lovely presence. “Your will is strong, Blue Paladin, as is your body. You’ve gone through months of torture and haven’t said anything, even though it got worse after your friend and the others escaped,” Zarkon said pacing around Lance and Lance followed him with his eyes.

“But, do your friends actually care about you?” he asked and Lance didn’t say anything. Zarkon knew from Haggar that the Blue Paladin didn’t think very well of himself since all the degrading things he’s heard from teammates, friends, and teachers over the years. He knew that they could potentially get him to join if they showed the Blue Paladin that they respected his abilities and didn’t degrade him. “If they did, they would have come, wouldn’t they?” he continued and he saw that Lance’s eyes had gotten glassy with unshed tears as he thought about what Zarkon said. “They would have,” he said answering his own question.

“How do I know you just are good at hiding me from them?” Lance bit out, willing himself to not believe Zarkon’s words.

“Oh, but we haven’t even moved you from the ship that still holds the Blue Lion, your Lion. Yet ,they haven’t come, after five of your Earth months have passed. Sure they came that one time, but they didn’t know you were on that ship and they retreated very fast. That doesn’t show that they actually care about you,” he continued.

“Your lieing! I matter to Voltron! ¡Ellos se preocupan por mí! ¡Vienen por mí, lo sé! **(They care about me! They're coming for me, I know it!)** ,” Lance shouted a tear making its way down.

“Do you really think that?” Zarkon asked. “Haggar has told me what she’s seen in your head, all the scathing, degrading remarks to you. From what I’ve seen from your battle prowess in the arena, they are mistaken. They don’t know the true strength you have,” he said and Lance looked up at him in confusion. “Join the Galra Empire, we can give you the think you’ve been craving from everyone,” he continued and he saw that Lance was watching him intently, “respect,” he finished and Lance’s eyes widened. “By you joining us, you’ll get respect from the universe. Everyone that ever degraded you or said that you were worthless, they’d be proven wrong, they’d see how great you really are,” he said and Lance’s mouth was agape in surprise.

He didn’t expect Zarkon to know what he’s been wanting from everyone. That he wanted people to see him for him and not compare him, to respect him and his decisions. Lance’s mouth opened and closed several times trying to form words to say ‘never’ or something but nothing came out. Zarkon’s thoughts about him joining sounded like a dream to Lance, to finally get respect from everyone that always compared him to another. “I’ll let you think on it overnight,” Zarkon said and the guards took Lance back to his cell were he would spend a sleepless night pondering everything. Zarkon turned to Haggar as she entered through a different door. “Put him under your control and get him to betray his team,” Zarkon ordered and Haggar nodded.

“As you wish, Emperor Zarkon,” she rasped and turned to go but stopped at the door. “Emperor Zarkon,” she started and he turned to her. “Your son, Prince Lotor, he’s been acting quite strange lately, you might want to keep an eye on him,” she said and then walked out of the room as Zarkon pondered her words. At that moment, Prince Lotor looked into the room through an opening and his lips curled up in disgust.  _ Of course Haggar realizes _ , he thought. He shakes his head and goes to the prisoner cell where located.

He walked down the hall with his hands behind his back as he went down, droids and soldiers all bow to him in respect as he goes by and he finally reaches the Paladins cell. He looks at the guard and nods. “Not a word of this to my father,” he said and the guard nodded, for he was close to Lotor and was helping him in his plans. The guard opened the door and Lance laid on the cold ground, his arm under his head to cushion it as he tried to get sleep. He walked into the room and Lance looked up at him as the guard closed the door behind him. “Hello, Paladin. I heard you talked to my father, Zarkon,” he said and Lance’s eyes widened at those words.

“Z-zarkon’s your father?” he asked and Lotor nodded.

“Yes, and please, hold out for as long as you can. I’m going to make contact to Allura and tell her you’re here,” he whispered and Lance looked at him in surprise.

“Why should I trust you?” Lance whispered back, sitting up and Lotor crouched down.

“Because, I’m going to help you take my father down, he’s been ruling far too long and too harsh. When he’s gone, I’ll right all the wrongs he’s done and free the planets he’s captured,” he said and Lance’s mouth opened agape in surprise. “I know you aren’t treated nicely by your friends, but keep holding out, prove to them that you are worthy of the Blue Lion,” Lotor continued and Lance gave a hesitant nod.

“I’ll try,” he said and Lotor nodded this time.

“That’s all I can ask for. Tomorrow I shall leave and head to your friends with valuable info on how to free you and how to take my father down,” he said and he then stood up. “I hope you make the right decision,  _ Paladin _ ,” he sneered standing up and winking at Lance who nodded as the door opened and the guard allowed him out. “Tell me if anyone comes in and if they do anything to Lance,” he whispered and the guard nodded agreement and he left the cells and headed towards his rooms where he could get all the info Voltron will need to defeat his father.

A knock on the door aroused Lotor from his sleep. He raised his head and saw that he had fallen asleep at his desk while he was getting info. He pushed back from the desk and stood up and went to the door and pressed a button. The door hissed open to show thee guard that watched Lance the day before. “What is it, Liron?” Loror asked as he moved aside to allow the guard inside.

“Sir,” Liron began once the door closed behind him, “the druid Haggar came to the Paladin’s cell not long after you and she had a couple containers with her. I fear she did something to the mighty Paladin,” he finished and Lotor growled.

“Were you able to see him after she left?” Lotor asked and Liron shook his head.

“No, sir. She didn’t leave until a teck or two before my shift ended. I fear nothing good has come of her arrivement,” he finished and Lotor nodded and began pacing.

“Liron, gather what other info you can from the Galra archive for me while I go see if I can find out what the witch did to the Paladin. Once your done meet me at my ship,” he said and Liron nodded.

“Yes, sir,” Liron said walking over to the desk and started going through the files there. Lotor then walked out of his room and made his way down to the cells and finally made it down there. He then made his way down the hall as casually as he could while dread was filling him. He soon arrived at Lance’s cell but it was empty, the dread solidifying into fear and worry at the thought of what his father did and would do to the Paladin. He then walked through the halls to find a guard that he could ask about the Paladin. He soon finally found one.

“Your highness,” the guard said and Lotor tilted his head up.

“Salutations. I was wondering, what happened to the Blue Paladin that was being held down here?” he asked and the guard tilted his head to the side in thought.

“Oh, I believe he was transferred. I’m not sure, sir. It happened during another guard's shift and they won’t tell anyone. Apparently Emperor Zarkon has ordered silence to everyone that knows what’s happening for the time being, sir,” the guard said and Lotor nodded.

“Thank you. Good bye,” Lotor then turned around and headed for the bay where Liron would meet him. He arrived in the bay and made his way over to his fighter and stood waiting for Liron to show up. He heard heavy footsteps and turned to see his father Zarkon walking over to him. “Salutations father,” Lotor said once Zarkon was close, making sure to keep everything neutral. “What brings you down here?”

“Well, I heard you were down here and I wanted to talk. There has been some rumors saying you’ve been acting strange,” Zarkon said and Lotor tilted his head slightly.

“Really? Well, I can assure you that they are all wrong. I’m loyal to the Empire and to you father. You have nothing to worry about,” he said and Zarkon nodded.

“Of course. Let’s hope whoever tried spreading these rumors are brought out. Now, where are you going?” Zarkon asked looking at Lotor’s ship.

“I received word from a Commander that they’ve found a lead for a rebel base and wanted me to go there. I stopped by here to get aa few things and a couple guards before I went. Never know what might happen there,” Lotor said and Zarkon nodded. He knew Commanders turned to his son for when they found anything out about a Rebel.

“Very well. I’ll see you after your mission. Vrepit sa,” Zarkon replied and Lotor bowed his head.

“Vrepit sa,” Lotor said back and Zarkon walked off. Lotor’s tense shoulders sagged slightly and he turned to see Liron coming up with a data pad and one other guard that was allied with Lotor. There were many guards that are part of the Rebellion and want to help Voltron, but they know not to draw attention to themselves. One such was Thace, he was able to open the barrier to get Voltron out but had to escape since he was found. Now, Thace was in hiding and Lotor planned to get him to go to Voltron like he was.

He received a cryptid message from a friend that said the Castle of Lions landed on Arus and was still there. “You sure you want to come, Fakhir? After this, we’ll be traitors,” Lotor whispered and Fakhir nodded, his short tuft of hair fell into his eyes and he brushed it away. Fakhir and Liron were brothers and joined Lotor and the Rebellion when their parents were killed for petitioning to help the planets conquered that were dieing. They were both lean of body and tall but they were shorter than most Galra by quite a few inches. Liron was a darker shade of purple while Fakhir was light purple with freckles along his cheeks and nose that were dark purple.

“I’m sure,” Fakhir said. “I want to do this. Besides who’s going to keep this crazy in check?” he pointed to Liron and he assumed an indignant look.

“I’ll have you know that I can be very responsible,” he replied and Fakhir looked at him with a face that showed his disbelief. “Let’s just get goin,’ Liron huffed and they nodded. They walked into the ship and Lotor went to the pilot seat as the brothers went to communications and the other went to weapons.

“Ready?” Lotor asked looking back at the two.

“Ready with comms,” Liron called.

“Ready with weapons,” Fakhir said and Lotor nodded.

“Ok, once we’re away from the main ship in a wormhole, cut off any trackers and make this ship untraceable,” Lotor said and they nodded agreement. “Ok, we’re off,” he turned the ship on, turned it toward the hangar door and started flying it out of the main ship. He then put in wormhole coordinates and a swirling hole of purple appeared before them and he pushed the sticks forward making the ship go into the swirling vortex. As they went through, they were pushed against their chairs and Liron started disabling everything that the Galra could tracked them with with difficulty due to being forced back.

Soon everything was taken off and they exited the wormhole. Lotor looked over the planet Arus and thought about how it looked like Altea slightly. “Entering atmosphere, now,” Lotor called back as the ship dove down to the planet. As they went through, they saw red through the screen as they went through the atmosphere. They cleared the atmosphere and Lotor looked around and saw the Castle of Lions on a hill with a bridge leading to it from the a hill path. He turned the ship to the Castle and they made their way to it when a beep resounded.

“Sir, the Castle is sending a message to us,” Linor called. “Should we answer?”

“No, they won’t be friendly if they know we’re Galra. Send a message to them saying a friend of Allura’s is in the ship,” Lotor ordered and Linor nodded.

“Sending message now,” he said as he pressed some buttons. Soon, another beep came. “They said stay in your ship when we land and some people will come out to meet us,” Linor reported and Lotor nodded.

“Alright. Tell them we will,” he said and Linor nodded. Lotor flew the ship down and landed it in front of the Castle and went to the ship's entrance and opened the door to allow them to see outside. As the three watched, the Castle doors opened and Allura walked in front with the Black and Yellow Paladin’s behind her. A grin went across his face as he faced his old friend before the great war started. He went out of the ship and waved to her. “Alli!” he called and her face brightened as well.

“Lotor!” she called and ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he wrapped his arms around her. They hugged each other for a little as his two friends and her Paladins came forward. He then let her go and waved to the two Paladins. Allura turned to her Paladins smiling at them as they looked on confused. “Meet Prince Lotor, he’s a close friend of mine,” she introduced. “Lotor, these are two of the Paladins, Shiro,” she pointed to the one wearing black and had a scar over his nose then turned to the one wearing yellow with a headband on his forehead, “and Hunk.”

“Salutations,” he greeted and they looked at him distrustfully. “These are my friends and fellow Rebels Linor,” he pointed to the darker colored Galra then gestured to the lighter one with freckles, “and his brother Fakhir,” he said with a smile that soon faded into a grim look. “I’ve come with information, some good and some about you Blue Paladin,” he said, though from his tone, it’s not good. Shiro stepped forward, his cybernetic arm ready and his face grim.

“What’s happening to Lance?” he asked and Lotor tilted his head before he recognized the name.

“Ah, the Blue Paladin, yes. I fear it’s not good,” he said and Allura’s eyes widened slightly. “I think it’s best I tell everyone this at once. Shall we?” he said pointing to the entrance to the Castle and Allura nodded agreement.

“Yes, that might be best. Shiro will you stop, they won’t hurt us,” she said and the two nodded, following behind everyone as they walked through the Castle toward the bridge. The brothers looked all around the Castle as they walked through, fascinated by everything since they’ve never been before. They then entered the bridge and there was the Green Paladin in a seat with brown hair that went past her shoulders and the advisor Coran. “The Green Paladin’s name is Katie but we call her Pidge,” Allura said and he nodded. “Pidge, this is my friend prince Lotor and his friends Linor and Fakhir. They’re going to help us,” she explained and Pidge nodded from her spot.

“Your Blue Paladin, Lance, he’s on the main battlecruiser. Also known as the mothership or base since that is where my father, Zarkon, and the witch, Haggar, are,” he said and a few people gasped. “Yes, the Blue and Red Paladins were there, but Lance managed to get the Red Paladin and some prisoners out and let himself be caught. My father talked to Lance after trying to get him to talk and failed, he offered a position of power in the Galra Empire to Lance and let him think of it. I told him not to join,” he explained and Shiro stepped forward.

“Lance would never betray us,” he growled and Lotor nodded.

“I never said that. But he might join because of different reasons,” he said and they all stared at him in horror besides Allura who had an idea of what he meant and the brothers behind him since they knew.

“What do you mean?” Shiro asked calmly.

“After I left to gather info for you, Haggar visited your friend and did something most likely to him. When I tried going to him, Lance was gone. I have a feeling Haggar may have put him under some spell to control him,” Lotor said grimly and Shiro actually cursed a little in Japanese causing the Alteans and Galran to look at him curiously. “What was that?” he asked and Shiro looked up sheepishly.

“I just cursed in my native language Japanese,” he said and Lotor raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve heard the Blue Paladin also cursed in another language as they tortured him,” he said and they all growled at hearing their friend was tortured but knew it was bound to happen.

“Lotor,” Allura began and everyone looked at her, “you need to help us get Lance back before anything bad happens,” she said and Lotor nodded.

“We will.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so if you have any questions about this story or a different story, wanna talk AU’s, theories, ships or anything, come to my Tumblr: paladinwilla or Twitter: Paladin Willa!! Ok, story now!!

Lance looked up when he heard the door open and saw Haggar walking in. A soft growl left his throat at the sight of the woman. He thought about Lotor’s words when he talked to him not long ago and vouched to do his best to resist. But at seeing Haggar in the door and with stuff in her hands, he didn’t have a good feeling about it. He just hoped Lotor was true to his words before anything bad happened to him or he do anything bad to his team. In Haggar hands were a few different vials and a container or something. “Lord Zarkon hopes you’ll chose correctly, Paladin,” she rasped walking forward and placed the items on the ground.

She then waved her hands around as she chanted something in a foreign language and Lance felt his mind go foggy. He shook his head hoping to clear it of the fog that descended. It didn’t work and Haggar had two vials in her hands and mixed them together and walked toward him. She continued her chant and reached a hand out and grabbed his jaw forcing it open. She then poured the vials contents into his mouth and closed it, holding it closed so he couldn’t spit it out and continued chanting more. When she saw he wasn’t swallowing she pinched his nose making so he was forced to swallow the contents in his mouth if he wanted to breath.

He still didn’t swallow but as the color of his face slowly paled, he swallowed the liquid and took a deep breath of air into his lungs. She smiled and resumed her chanting and grabbed another vial and put a bit into a syringe and grabbed a container full of a different liquid. She then poured some of that into the syringe and then put the needle into his neck and pushed the contents in. As she did that, Lance felt horrible, his stomach churned at was was in it and his blood seemed to be boiling as he couldn’t move. Sweat beaded on his forehead and his breathing became laboured. The fog on his mind thickened as she continued her spell and soon all he his mind could do was wonder why he’d been on the wrong side for so long.

“What do you think of Zarkon’s offer?” she asked with a smirk, already knowing the answer and he looked up at her with slightly clouded eyes.

“I accept,” he muttered and she nodded. She then pressed two fingers to his head and he fell to the ground unconscious. She then left the cell and walked back to the throne room where Zarkon was sitting patiently for her report.

“It is done. Once he accepts in front of you and your Commanders, I shall work on making stronger, more Galra. That shall change his appearance to look like a Galra soldier, which should also work to making his team think he’s gone,” she said and Zarkon nodded.

“Good. Start preparing everything you’ll need. Once he’s motified and rested enough from the changes, we’ll start training him, maybe he’ll even be able to change his bayards form,” Zarkon mused and Haggar nodded.

“Of course. Vrepit sa,” she said.

“Vrepit sa,” he repeated.

The next day a guard went to Lance’s cell early and Lance walked willingly toward the throne room. Zarkon stood in front of his throne and looked down at Lance and the guard as they walked to the throne. Lance went another step forward so that he was six feet from the throne and he then went down to one knee with his head bowed. He then raised his head with a determined look. “I accept your offer,” Lance said in a voice devoid of any emotions.

“Good. Haggar will now take you to make sure you’re strong enough to get the respect you deserve. Vrepit sa,” Zarkon said and Lance smiled up with empty eyes.

“Vrepit sa,” Lance repeated before being led off toward Haggar’s experiment room. He heard the door hiss open and turned to see a soldier come in and he kneeled onto one knee and raised a hand to his chest.

“Sir, all tracking equipment and communications went offline on Prince Lotor’s ship. Our long range sensors didn’t notice this until a few moments ago since they appear to be very far away. What do you speculate is the reason, Emperor Zarkon?” the soldier asked and Zarkon turned to look out the window.

“Was everything in working condition?” Zarkon asked and the guard nodded.

“Yes, sir. All the equipment was in perfect condition since his last mission was a simple diplomatic mission to talk to one of our allies,” the guard said and Zarkon tilted his head in acknowledgment.

“So, either one or both of the men that went with Lotor are traitors, or my own son is a traitor,” he said, disappointment heavy in his tone at the thought of his own son betraying him.

“What do you want done, sir?” the guard asked and Zarkon turned to him with a determined look.

“For now, we wait. Time will show who the traitor is,” Zarkon said and the guard nodded.

“Vrepit sa,” he said and the soldier stood up.

“Vrepit sa,” the guard repeated before leaving the room. Zarkon then went to his throne and sat down on it to start preparing for the day's meetings.

**XXX**

Lotor looked up at the Paladins as they watched the waiting pod anxiously. It’s been four days since he’s arrived and he had a feeling that if they’re to get Lance back, it will be very difficult for them. The glass on the pod goes away and Lotor watches as the Red Paladin stumbles out looking like a Galra. His brows raise and he looked over at Allura and she gave him a knowing smile and walked over to him. “He’s part Galra. Surely you would have heard?” she said and he shook his head.

“Father didn’t like talking about things like that,” he said gesturing to Keith as he looked at them.

“Where’s Lance? Who are they?” he asked as Shiro helped him to the floor with his arm still around Keith’s shoulder.

“Keith, Lance is still in the enemy's hands. This is Lotor and his friends Liron and Fakhir. They’re helping us rescue Lance and take down Zarkon,” she explained and Keith’s eyes widened at the thought that three Galra were helping them.

“We have to get Lance out of there!” Keith yelled and Allura nodded.

“We will. We just need to make a plan and not go in recklessly. Not to mention find out what battleship Lance is on since we have no clue if he’s been moved or not,” she said and Keith looked down dejectedly.

“Don’t worry, Keith. I’ll see if an inside source knows where Lance is,” Lotor said and Keith raised his head to stare at Lotor intensely before nodding slowly. “I shall go do that with Liron as you guys catch up,” he then turned to the brothers. “Fakhir, see what you can find a way to strengthen the Alteans defenses against Galra weapons and how to advance their own weapons so they can do more damage to Galra ships,” Lotor said and the brothers nodded. Liron walked with Lotor out of the room and toward the bridge and they heard a second set of footsteps going the direction Fakhir went and assumed that it was the advisor wanting to help.

**XXX**

Lance gripped his inactive bayard in his hand as he waited for the training dummy to come down. A sentry dummy came down and Lance willed his bayard on and it changed into a lance\staff. Poles came from the bayard with blue streaks and the ends on both sides curved into glowing blades like Pidge’s own bayard. He swung it p so that the blade on the longer side faced the dummy. A growl came from Lance as he stared at the dummy and his new Galra ears twitched slightly as it caught faint footsteps and he turned to see another dummy coming toward him.

He swung his lance at the dummy in front and it jerked around sparking as it was shocked by the blade. He then pulled the blade back and turned toward the one behind him and swung it toward the dummy. The dummy ducked under the swinging blade and brought its own weapon up and Lance swung his weapon so that the dagger it had landed against the poles. Lance then pushed the lance so that it circled, making the dummy lose its dagger and it fly off. He then thrusted the lacne forward into the dummy’s chest causing it to spark before it fell to the ground.

He pulled the lance out of the dummy and it changed to its normal form as he waited. Clapping resounded throughout the room and Lance turned to see Haggar coming toward him. “Well done. It seems the modifications worked wonderfully,” she said in her raspy voice and Lance nodded. When he first saw how his body was changed, it startled him. His eyes widened when he saw how his eyes were golden, only faint blue irises remained, his skin had a light purple tint to it, his brown hair had purple streaks in it and his ears were like the Galran ears. Though when he heard that his eyesight was sharper and he could see better at night and his hearing was better too, he didn’t mind as much. The changes they did would help him in battle.

“Yes. They seem to,” Lance replied bowing his head and Haggar nodded.

“Now, let’s try a black-ops mission,” she said walking to the side with Lance following. They went onto a platform and it raised high into the air above the training room. “You will start up here and make your way there,” she said pointing to the other end of the room, “and ‘save’ the Galra Commander from the enemy,” she said and a female Galra officer walked to the spot and a cage was formed around her as a few dummies popped up with a few living soldiers also appeared to make it more like a real life operation. “Try to get there quietly to rescue her. If you end up being spotted, try to get back with her. If they taze you, its over,” she said and Lance nodded.

He looked down as a maze was made from containers forming to make it look like a hangar or storage bay and watched their movements. Two guards, a living and a dummy, walked on the far end away from everyone and he raised his bayard. It morphed into a recurve bow, arms curved away black in color with a glowing blue facing him before stopping about a foot up. Then from there two more arms came out going towards him until the bow was a couple feet shorter than him. A string detached from the top arm and fell to attach to the bottom arm.

He leveled the bow at the dummy and pulled the string back and a arrow was formed from a laser, it sparked as it waited, not harming lance as he took a breath before letting the string go. The arrow shot across the space and struck the droid silently square in the chest. Before it even fell another arrow was on its way to the living guard and it hit its mark too. The arrow sparked causing electricity to go through the Galra’s body and he fell unconscious to the ground. The good thing about the bow was that Lance could will the arrows to either taze or to kill people. Since this was training, he stuck to the taze ones.

He then looked a bit farther and shot the droid there before he went down to the ground. He then snuck through the maze of containers and past the unconscious Galra to the point where he was close to the cage. He raised the bow and knew he’d only have at most one chance and pulled the string back. He looked between the four people, three living and one droid. He looked for the strongest on and saw that it was the guard in the middle. He pointed the bow at the man and slowed his breathing, Lance then let the string go and the arrow shot the man in the chest and instantly, before the man even started going down everyone was on guard and searching.

He stepped from his place, his bayard changed from his bow to his lance. They all turned to him and he ran forward swinging his lance and struck the droid down. The two guards were left got into fighting positions. He smirked at them and grabbed the lance with his free hand and lowered it slightly. The two rush toward him and he blocks both of their attacks and then swung his blade at them. One managed to jump back but the other got hit with the blade and fell unconscious. Lance smirked at the remaining guard who snarled at him before charging forward.

Lance jumped back from the attack and swung his blade and the guard blocked it. He pulled back and swung low making the guard jump back. They then went forward again and fought, their weapons clashed repeatedly. The guard then turned his weapon until it forced Lance’s bayard down and kicked it away. The bayard bounced slightly before skidding another few feet before stopping and changing back to its normal form of deactivated. Lance raised his hands and balled them into fists and had them at chest level.

The guard swung at him and Lance ducked behind and swung a fist at the guard. The guard managed to dodge it and swung his weapon at Lance forcing him to jump back to avoid the shock. He ran forward and slid underneath the guards weapon and pushed up off his feet and his fist hit the Galra on the jaw knocking him back. From the force of the hit, the Galra fell back and his head hit the ground with a loud thud and he was out like a light. Lance smiled as he ran forward scooping his bayard up as he went to the cell. He arrived in front of it and looked for a panel before finding it after a bit of searching. He looked at the panel and pushed the button that opened the cage.

The cage disappeared and the female looked at him with a smile. He then nodded to her and she nodded back. He looked back the way he came and waved her to follow him as he led the way back to the safe area. They went up and soon arrived in front of Haggar who nodded to them. “Good work, Kuro,” she said and Lance nodded, taking the new name without hesitation. To him, Lance was gone and dead. Dead the day Keith and the prisoners escaped. Dead the day a week later and Keith didn’t come. When no one came to rescue him. “I shall go tell Emperor Zarkon of your progress,” she said and Kuro nodded agreement and she walked away through a door.

“So are you actually a commander like Haggar was saying? Or are you a different position?” Kuro asked and the Galra smiled down at him.

“I’m a Master Sergeant for the Empire. I usually train the recruits on how everythings done in a battleship,” she said and Kuro nodded.

“Does the position get you any respect?” he asked and she moved her head a bit from side to side. He started walking to a door that led to a break area of sorts where they could relax for a little until Haggar came back for him to do something.

“It gives one a good amount of respect. But not as much as a Commander or Sub-Commander though. So why did you betray your team, Voltron?” she asked.

“I realized they never cared. That they don’t give me the respect I deserve. After being held here for months and them not coming, it became clear that they don’t care. Zarkon, though, he saw my inner strength and offered me a position. One that I gladly took since people here seem to respect me more than they ever did,” he growled out and she nodded, storing the info away for later. She knew Zarkon and Haggar wanted her to make sure Lance had another reason to not leave and that was if he had a close friend or maybe lover. She was willing to do that since it would keep him in the Empire and by that, they could take over the universe. “I never got your name miss,” he said suddenly as they entered the room and she nodded as they sat down on a couch.

“So you haven’t. It’s Eshka,” she said raising a hand to him and he grabbed it. “From what I saw out there right now, your team are fools for not respecting you and your abilities, Kuro,” she said and he smiled.

“They are,” he agreed smiling.

**XXX**

“Anything?” Shiro asked and Pidge shook her head as she looked back the screen as she tried finding Blue.

“Nothing. I’ve tried all the ways I could think of but nothing. I’ll keep trying though,” she said rubbing her sore eyes. It’s been an additional four days since Keith came out of the pod and Lotor said he’d check his sources. Everyone’s been tense as they feared what Lance could be going through and helped as much as they could. Even though there wasn’t much, they started helping around the Castle when they couldn’t do anything. Keith at the moment was helping Coran clean things up, something Lance used to do, Hunk was currently in the kitchen making a soothing meal for everyone while Allura was in the bridge trying to find Blue.

Lotor and his friends were doing what they could by checking inside sources and making the Castle’s defenses stronger. Shiro himself was going between everyone making sure they were ok and to see if they needed someone to talk to. As Shiro looked at Pidge, he saw how emotionally and physically tired she was. This whole capture has put a lot on their shoulders and drained them, now with the fact that Haggar may have done something to Lance, well, that just adds to their problems. Shiro knew though that out of everyone, Pidge had slept the least, she’s stayed up day after day when Keith arrived, only taking cat naps when she became too tired.

He looked around her desk and saw that packets were littered everywhere that once was filled with alien energy drinks like back on Earth. It was the space equivalent of caffeine and Pidge seemed to down it like a dieing man when she was particularly stressed over something or when it was something like this, trying everything to find a friend. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him as he gave her a sympathetic smile. “How are you holding up?” he asked and she rubbed her eyes again as she looked up at him.

“As good as everyone else I guess,” she replied and he nodded. He knew Pidge and Lance had gotten closer over the time they’ve been together as Paladins and knew Pidge saw Lance as an older brother of sorts so she was torn like Hunk at his capture and what could be happening to him right now. Keith, he had Shiro worried about him. He’s quieter than usual and seems to hide from them if he can when they aren’t training, planning, bonding or eating meals together. Shiro’s seen him talking to Coran and Hunk a bit more often and saw that the two usually had fond smiles that turned sad and that had Keith smiling strained as he seemed to be holding in his own pain. Shiro’s asked them what they talk about to Keith and they tell him they talked about Lance, Coran what he’s seen and done with Lance, Hunk about when they were kids and were teammates in the Garrison. Keith it seemed was taking the news of something being done to Lance that was like brainwashing the worst. It had Shiro worried, but he was glad that he was talking to someone and not completely hiding himself from the world and not training vigorously to unhealthy amounts. He just wished that they’d found Lance sooner before he got caught a week after Keith.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get him back,” Shiro said patting Pidge’s shoulder. She smiled up at him before going back to tracking Blue. “I’ll go see how the others are doing,” Shiro said walking backwards and Pidge raised a hand in acknowledgement.

“Oh, if you see Hunk, can you tell him I need help with some wiring!” she called.

“Sure thing,” he said walking away through the door. As he walked through the halls toward the bridge, an alarm went off and red flashed all around. Shiro then started to run through the halls toward the bridge and soon Pidge was running with him up. They entered the bridge and everyone else was already there. “Princess what’s happening?” Allura looked at them with a grim expression.

“It’s the Galra,” she said pulling up a map of the space around Arus. “A battleship is going past Arus and toward the planet of Tanjay by the Balmera we liberated. We need to stop them, the Tanjayian people are a peaceful people that were allies to Altea and could give us resources to help us defeat the Galra Empire,” she said and Lotor nodded.

“That is true. They’ve been avoiding detection for years by going underground and managed to disrupt signals. But, since the battleship is going there, that means someone was able to get a signal through and see the planets surface. It’d be best if we stop them, we could them get an alliance with them,” he explained and Allura nodded.

“Yes. Get changed everyone and get to your Lions. Coran, Lotor and I will stay here to provide backup. Liron, Fakhir, think you could use the Altean pods to help them?” Allura asked turning to the two as the Paladins ran out and they nodded. “Coran, led them to the pods,” she said and Coran nodded before running out with the Galra brothers following behind. “Lotor, can you go over to that panel and watch their position and if they launch any fighters?”

“Sure thing,” he replied. “What else should I do?” he asked looking at Allura when he stopped at the panel and the battleship appeared.

“Tell the Paladins if there are any weak spots on the ship and help them avoid getting hit. I’ll watch to see if any Galra manage to get onto Tanjay,” she explained and Lotor nodded right as the bridge doors opened again. “Coran, watch the stats of the Castle and Lions,” she ordered and Coran nodded while heading to a panel in front of the twin pedestals that Allura stood by that was in the center of the bridge.

“On it!” Coran said excitedly and then the Lions, minus Blue, flew out of their bays with two Altean pods following them as they flew to the planet Tanjay. Soon, on a map in front of Allura pops up and shows the Lions and pods making their way to the battleship that was getting closer to Tanjay.

“Be prepared for battle, Paladins,” she called and on the windows in front, six faces appeared, four of which are in lions and the other two in pods. “This won’t be an easy battle. You’ve been separated for a while so you’ll need to get back into the mindset of fighting as a team again. And from what I can gather, this battleship is bigger than the other ones,” she continued and Lotor nodded.

“It is. This is a battleship that comes from the base, one that doesn’t leave much. I’d guess you friend and the Blue Lion might be in there,” he said and Allura’s eyes widened while the Paladins gave mixed reactions.

“ _ You really think this? _ ” Shiro asked as they flew closer and Lotor nodded.

“I believe so. From a source, they said they saw a man that looked like the Blue Paladin enter a battleship like that one, and it left shortly after. May as well search it so see if either are there,” he said and Shiro nodded.

“ _ Pidge, go to the battleship undetected and hack into their data to see if Lance is on there, _ ” Shiro said and Pidge nodded.

“ _ On it, just make sure to keep them distracted _ ,” she said and he nodded.

“ _ Will do, _ ” he said nodding and soon, the visual on Green disappeared so they only had the Castle’s reading that Green was there.

Shiro looked out of Black’s windows to the planet they were getting closer to and by that the battleship there. From what he could see, the planet was mostly land that looked healthy with small lakes dotting the surface. He then turned to the ship and saw that it was indeed bigger than the usual battleship they fought and knew it would be harder to take down than usual, but luckily they had some extra help. As they got closer, Shiro was anxious about the thought of Lance actually being on the ship, it would both be amazing since everyone missed him, and stressful because then they’d need to get Lance out before they destroy the ship before it got to Tanjay. Shiro let out a sigh and heard Black rumble in her comforting way in his mind.

“Sorry, just worried,” he whispered to her and she rumbled.  _ It is fine, my pilot. Green is now by the bay _ , a voice spoke and Shiro looked up at Black in surprise since he hasn’t heard an actual voice before, only images. “Are….are you talking?” he asked in surprise.  _ Yes, this shows how our bond is stronger than before _ , she said and he nodded. “Well, then let's see if this can help us. Are you able to feel Blue and talk to her?” he asked and he then heard a rumble.  _ I can, my pilot. Her presence is very faint, like it’s being blocked. But……. _ , she hesitated. “Yes?” he asked equally hesitant.  _ Something is blocking her from communicating with her pilot. And when she can, she feels something dark in him, like control _ , Black said.

Shiro’s breath got caught in his throat as he heard that.  _ No, that can’t be _ , he thought and he heard talking. “Shiro!” he turned to see Keith’s purple face.

“Yes?” he asked and Keith looked at him in concern.

“You stopped talking to us. We started the battle and Pidge made it inside. You aren’t really moving,” he said and Shiro smiled softly at Keith.

“Sorry,” Shiro replied.

“Everything ok? Did you hear anything?” Keith asked and Shiro sighed.

“Well, yes. Black was able to connect to Blue and told me that Blue was detecting something, something dark, in Lance,” he said and Keith’s eyes widened.

“Th-that can’t be,” Keith stumbled out after a pause. “Are you sure?” he asked and Shiro nodded. “Then we need to get him out!” Keith shouted.

“We still need a plan,” Shiro reasoned. “And we don’t know for sure Lance is there. For now, all we can do is wait. Now, let’s go distract this ship,” he said flying Black toward the ship and he saw Red beside him. Hunk was already at the ship fighting and the pods were doing what they could. After a little, fighters started coming out and Shiro growled. “Pidge! Update!” he shouted into the comms and he heard static.

“ _ I’m here _ ,” Pidge said and Shiro sighed. “ _ And, Blue is here! Lance though, there’s nothing. His name’s crossed out and a different name, Kuro, is beside it. Who the heck is Kuro and did he kill or hurt Lance!? _ ” she yelled, fear lacing her voice.

“Black said Blue can still feel Lance, so this Kuro probably hurt Lance. Lance’s name might be crossed off since he’s probably not there anymore,” Shiro reasoned, hoping beyond hope that Lance was actually ok and nothings happening to him. “Pidge, get out here and help us disable this ship. If we can get it to land or not move, then we can get Blue out and then we can find Lance,” he said and he heard a sigh.

“ _ On it. Be out in a few _ ,” she replied and Shiro nodded before pulling up a comm to the bridge.

“Prince Lotor,” he called and heard some movement.

“ _ Yes, Black Paladin? _ ” Lotor asked over the comm.

“Is there any way to disable the ship so we can safely get the Blue Lion out of there?” he asked.

“ _ The engines are the least protected. If you can get those down then they’re not moving for a while. Next would be the point just below the bridge, with that down, they can’t get any messages or orders out and they’ll have a harder time defending themselves, _ ” he said and Shiro nodded.

“Will do. You heard that team?” he asked and he heard grunts of acknowledgements. “Alright, let’s go!” he said and they all flew to the engines at the ships back to damage them. As soon as they started attacking, more fighters came out and they looked smaller than the other fighters, as if they weren’t meant to do much. Shiro stared at them in confusion, knowing those ships looked familiar. “Don’t shoot the smaller fighters!” he shouted and everyone made sounds of confusion. “The smaller fighters are the same as the one Lance was in the first time we tried finding him and he heard a gasp.

“ _ The Paladin is correct. The smaller fighters are used to put prisoners in to power them and help fight. If the Empire didn’t think prisoners were worthy for either fighting, work camps or they were rebellious, they put them in those fighters. Don’t hit the smaller fighters. If you see a group of smaller fighters, find the big one and take that one down. With it down, the fighters will not do anything, they’ll just float around harmless, _ ” Lotor explained and Shiro nodded.

“Alright. Hunk, get the fighters to follow you away from the ship and then take the main fighter out. We don’t want them to get caught should an explosion happens,” he said.

“ _ On it _ ,” Hunk called and the Yellow Lion flew off with some fighters following. Soon, Pidge came out of the ship and helped them take the engines out. They went by again and after they did more damage, the engines exploded and the ship tilted down slightly and Shiro smiled, next was below the bridge. A flash of movement caught his sight and he watched as a ship went toward Tanjay.

“Keith, a ship is going to Tanjay, you’re the closest. Go stop them!” Shiro ordered and Keith’s face popped up and he nodded.

“Will do,” Keith replied moving the sticks and he dove Red down to Tanjay, face grim as he went down after the Galra ship. They managed to get through and could then see the land clearly and saw how the plants down there were different colors and the trees were up to at least ten feet high. In the distance, Keith saw the ship land and he went to a spot near there and climbed out of Red with his bayard out and active in its sword form. He ran through the lightly forested part to the ship and a growl escaped him as he saw a tall but lean Galra wearing a full face helmet that made it so no one could see his face. “Stop right there! I am the Red Paladin of Voltron,” Keith shouted and the person faced him as he entered the small clearing the Galra was in.

“The Red Paladin huh? Where’s your Blue friend, hmm? Did you get rid of him because you could do better?” he sneered at Keith and Keith growled.

“No, you should know, _ Galra _ ,” Keith spat the name like it was a poison, “you have him on your ship, doing what you please with him. That won’t last though, we’ll get him back,” Keith said snarling at the soldier. The soldier cocked his head to the side as if in thought.

“Oh really? Well, I think you’re going to be very surprised at what he’s like after so long,” the soldier said and Keith snarled again.

“Oh yeah?” he asked and the soldier nodded. “Why do you say that? Are you Kuro, the name that was beside Lance’s?” Keith asked and the soldier laughed.

“I am Kuro, good job at figuring that out,” he said and Keith’s lips curled up.

“You’ll pay for what you’ve done to Lance!” Keith shouted and Kuro laughed menacingly again.

“Will I now? Well, you’re going to be in for a surprise,” he taunted as his mask went up just enough for Keith to see his smirk. “If you think I should pay,” he began and had his hands up, curling them toward himself, “come at me then,” he finished, smirking still. A growl came from Keith’s mouth and he lunged forward, sword ready. Kuro reached behind his back and pulled a small pole from their and pressed a button, making it grow to the size of a lance and a blade formed. Kuro knew not to expose himself to early, that be later, when they tried getting the Blue Lion. He lifted the lance and blocked Keith’s attack smirking again.

He twisted the lance and made Keith’s blade slide down until the lance had the bayards tip pushed into the ground. Kuro then lifted a leg and kicked the bayard away before Keith could pull back and the bayard flew off and landed with a muted thud. Keith looked between him and his bayard before going at him again with his fists. He swung his claws that weren’t covered and Kuro batted them off with the lance and thrusted the point toward Keith’s chest forcing him back. Keith jumped back to avoid being hit and stood there breath heavy slightly as he thought about how to beat Kuro.

“You know, you friend kept saying that you’d get him out soon after he got you and the prisoners out. But after a week, he stopped saying that, convinced you weren’t going to save him, was convinced you didn’t want him anymore since he couldn’t escape. Real sad, he really thought you people cared about him. So sad he’ll die thinking you never actually cared,” Kuro said with his lips curled up in distaste.

“We’ll save him! We will!” Keith shouted running toward his bayard, scooping it up and then heading toward Kuro. A roar came out of Keith as he went forward, feeling Red’s rage filling him up at the thought of Lance and Blue suffering. Kuro growled as Keith came forward and dove to the side only for his side to get cut with Keith’s blade. Keith looked down at his blade curiously, seeing red blood on his blade, he thought Galra blood would be a purple color. Kuro growled at being cut and a cry roared in his head. Keith gripped his head as he heard Blue’s cries of anguish.  _ Why is Blue is suffering? Is Lance getting hurt!? _ Keith thought. “What are you doing to Lance!?” Keith demanded and Kuro laughed.

“You’ll see,” he said and they both looked up as they heard fighters coming toward them. Kuro looks back down at Keith and thrusts his lance blade forward while he’s distracted. Kuro then laughs as a ship comes down with a line lowered and he grabs it. Keith grips the lance in his side and watches as Kuro is pulled into the fighter. He fell to his knees as he tightened his grip on the blade and pulled it slightly and grunted in pain.

“ _ Keith! What happened? Are you ok? _ ” Shiro’s voice called through his comms and Keith raised a hand and pressed the side of his helmet. A grunt escaped him as his raised arm move dhis side which made the blade cut more.

“I…..found the….man Kuro,” Keith said. “He….s-s-stabbed me….with a l-lance…..b-b-blade,” he grunted as he stood up and slowly walked to Red with the spear still sticking out. “H-he….got away,” he managed as blood continued to drizzle out of the wound.

“ _ I’m coming buddy. The Galra won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. I’ll make sure this Kuro gets the justice he deserves. Just hold on, _ ” Shiro called and Keith grunted again as he stumbled into the small clearing Red was in and fell against her paw. He felt Red’s concern roll into his mind as he pressed down to keep the blood in and to keep thee blade from moving.

“I-i’ll try,” Keith muttered quietly that Shiro almost missed it.

“ _ You better, Keith, _ ” Pidge called.

“W-we’ll see,” Keith muttered.

“ _ That’s all we can ask, _ ” Shiro replied. Keith grunted and continued to lean against Red and heard a roar. He looked up and saw Black coming down and she landed in front of Red. Black then lowered her head and Shiro came out, rushing over to Keith. “Keith!” he shouted and and Keith gave a small smirk.

“Took y-you long e-enough,” he stuttered.

“Hold on, I’m going to cut the lance shorter,” Shiro said and Keith nodded. Shiro then turned his arm on and cut through the spear so it didn’t get caught on anything. He then took Keith’s free arm and placed it around his shoulder and walked them to Black and settled Keith against the wall before heading to the cockpit chair and turning Black on. He then grabbed Red with her paws and flew up and out of the atmosphere and watched as Green, Yellow and the pods attack more fighters to allow them to get to the Castle on Arus still. “Allura, I’m coming back with Keith and he’s injured, there’s a spear in his side put there by this Kuro person,” Shiro called.

“ _ Alright, I have Coran going to get the pod ready before going over to you. Have you moved the spear? _ ” she asked.

“No, I know from old medical lessons that keeping a weapon inside the wound helps staunch the blood flow so it keeps more blood inside the person so they don’t die of bloodloss,” he explained. To the side the image of the bridge formed and he saw Allura nodded.

“ _ Good. it would be bad if you had moved the weapon, _ ” she agreed.

“Is Lotor there?” Shiro asked and she nodded, getting Lotor to the screen with a wave. “Lotor, do you know anyone called Kuro in the Empire?” Shiro asked and Lotor shook his head.

“ _ Whoever this Kuro is, they arrived after I left the Empire. Did you perhaps see this Kuro? _ ” Lotor asked and Shiro shook his head.

“No, Keith did though, so after he’s healed he can tell you,” Shiro said and he heard a bit of movement and turned to see Keith scootching closer.

“I...c-can tell...you know,” Keith said through clenched teeth.

“ _ Ok, what did he look like? _ ” Lotor asked.

“H-he was…..tall b-but….lean. He also…..w-wore a….full h-helmet…..o-on his head…...He l-looked….like L-lance,” Keith said and Shiro’s eyes widened.

“ _ He had Lance’s build? _ ” Allura asked and Keith nodded. “ _ How is that possible? _ ” she asked and they all shrugged.

“ _ I haven’t seen anyone in the Galra Empire with that description. The only one that looked like Lance that I saw was Lance himself. It’s very possible that this Kuro was Lance under a spell, _ ” Lotor said and Keith shook his head.

“C-can’t be,” he said and they all looked at him, well tried to since he was on the floor. “H-his helmet….c-came up slightly…..and I-i saw…..p-puple skin,” he managed through grunts of pain and deep breaths.

“ _ I’ll look into this. If we are lucky, we will face Kuro again and find out _ ,” Lotor said and Shiro nodded.

“ _ Lotor’s right. We won’t know until we see Kuro again. For now, get back to the hangar and get Keith to the healing pods _ ,” Allura said and Shiro nodded. The screen then collapsed and the two were in silence. In the distance, Shiro saw Arus and knew they’d arrive in a few minutes.

“Hang in there, bud. We’re almost there,” Shiro said as they went into the atmosphere and then exited it. He then had Black go down to the Castle slowly and soon arrived and Black landed softly. Once down, Shiro stood up and went over to Keith and pulled him up. Keith leaned against Shiro’s side as they walked out of Black right as Coran came rushing into the hangar. They walked over to Coran and together they started toward the healing pods. They entered the chamber and a table was in there that had an opening beneath it showing that it came from the floor. They went over to the table and Shiro laid Keith down onto it.

“Alright, now we just need to remove the spear head then we can place him in the healing pod,” Coran said and Shiro nodded. “Now, you’ll need to hold Keith still so I can get it out,” he explained and Shiro nodded going to grab Keith’s shoulders. He then nodded to Coran and he nodded, grabbing onto the spear shaft remain. Coran nodded and then pulled the spear out. Keith yelled out in pain and jerked up on the table and Shiro held him down before helping him into the pod. He then stepped back and Coran turned the pod on. “There, he’ll be fine after seven hours in there,” he said cheerfully. “Now off you go, they still need your help in disabling the ship!” Shiro nodded agreement and went out of the room and headed toward the hangar.

**XXX**

Lance looked from the ship's bridge out into space and toward the Lions attacking. His lip pulled up as two of the Lions started shooting at the column below the bridge, effectively disabling the messaging system and making things very difficult. The battle had been going on for quite a few hours and no matter what they do to do repairs, the Lions or pods destroy the drones out there. “Kuro!” a soldier shouted and Kuro turned to the soldier running into the room and felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned slightly and saw that Eshka was the one doing that. He smiled up at her and she smiled back before he turned his full attention back to the soldier who was now kneeling.

“What is it?” Kuro asked and the soldier stood back up.

“The message system is offline and can’t be repaired and the particle barrier is also down. I have drones out to go fix it but the Lions and two Altean pods are destroying the drones. It also seems that they’re trying to board the ship to get to the Blue Lion!” the soldier reported and Kuro’s lips curled up in a sneer.

“Well, Eshka and I will go down with a squadron of droids to welcome them in the Blue Lion’s hangar,” Kuro said and the soldier nodded along with Eshka. “Let’s go, we’ll grab a squadron on the way,” he then started walking toward the door and stopped at the entrance. “Stay here and do my duties while I go prepare for the  _ guests _ ,” Kuro sneered and the soldier nodded. He and Eshka made their way down the ship to where droids wait for orders and entered the room going over to a panel. Eshka types away and fifteen droids lighted up and walked towards them.

Kuro pulled his helmet off and set it on a nearby desk and pulled his bayard out, holding it loosely in his right hand. “Are you sure you want to reveal yourself, Kuro?” Eshka asked and Kuro nodded.

“Yes, I want to see their faces when they see that Lance is no more, only Kuro remains,” he said and she nodded. They then started going down more stairs and elevators before they finally arrived in the bay that the Blue Lion was sitting, its particle barrier up separating it from everyone else. As they walked closer to the weapon, Kurpo felt the presence once more and grit his teeth. He felt a concern overcome him and then anger. He shook his head to clear it, the only thing on his mind is making sure to impress Emperor Zarkon since he’s counting him.

“Of course,” she replied as they came to a stop in front of the Lion and turned to face the door. Kuro was turned slightly, facing the walls edge were two walls met. They then waited for the Paladins to arrive in the room. After about thirty minutes, a grating sound resounded around the room and Kuro’s eyes flicked to the door. A purple hand could be seen cutting through the door and he looked over at his soldiers.

“They’re here. Be ready,” he said and they all nodded right as the door fell over with a resounding clang.

“Lance! Lance!? What happened to you!?” someone called and he turned to face the two there. He squinted at the unmasked face of the Red Paladin, a faint feeling and memory stirring at the sight. A sharp sensation coursed through his mind and he shook his head to look at the new comers again.

**XXX**

Keith cracked his neck as he and Shiro flew their Lions to a bay that was close to Blue. “ _ Allura, we’re almost at the bay _ ,” Shiro’s voice called over the comms.

“ _ Good, be prepared for resistance from the Galra _ ,” she warned and Keith grunted assent, he couldn’t wait to see Kuro again to give him a piece of his mind. He wanted to make sure that whoever brought Lance pain would be brought to justice…

“ _ We copy _ ,” Shiro said in reply and they continued in silence to the bay. They then entered and quickly destroyed the ships in there before they got out. Keith then took his bayard out and it changed into his sword. They ran through the halls taking down whatever guards they face and Keith felt Red, felt her leading him through the maze of a ship to where she and Black felt Blue was waiting.

Keith ran into the hangar that he felt Red tell him Blue was in. Shiro used his hand to cut the door open and they ran through and in the distance he saw figures. He stopped as he entered the room he saw a familiar figure in front of him. Shiro stopped with him as they look at the figure in front of them. He looked familiar with his messy hair and tall, lean build but he looked Galran. His hair was a mix of purple and brown, his skin was tinted a light purple color and his eyes were golden but still retained their ocean blue color vaguely in a faint iris like Keith’s and his ears were like those of Galra, they even look like Keith’s own Galran ears. Behind him was Blue, her force field up and protecting her from the Galra. Lance had on Galra armor that looked like his old Paladin armor but its gray and the parts that would have glowed a light blue were jagged and purple and the Galra symbol was on his chest in its purple glory and in his hand was the Blue Lion’s bayard.   
Before he could stop himself, Keith stepped forward. “Lance! Lance!? What happened to you!?” he shouted and Lance turned to face him with a sneer on his face. The soldiers around him got set in a ready stance. Lance looked at Keith curiously, he was slightly confused at seeing the familiar armor but shook his head.   
His lips curled up as he gripped his bayard to him that was still the same.“Who the hell is Lance?” he asked and smiled when Keith’s face paled to a pastel purple color. “I am Kuro, remember? We met before,” he said with a sickeningly sweet voice and smirk. Kuro then pointed his bayard at Keith which changed into a lance, something Keith saw often in the Galra Arena.   
“No! That can’t be true! You’re Lance! My friend!” Keith shouted.   
“Ha! Now you’re lying to yourself. Like I would ever be friends with you,” he sneered. “You left me in Galra hands, left me so they could do as they pleased to get me to talk. They tortured me trying to get information out of me, information that I didn’t have or wouldn’t give. They did some unpleasant, painful things to me, just to see what it’d take for me to break and tell, but after so much begging, saying I didn’t know where you were, they stopped. They could tell that you, my own team, didn’t care for me,” he said, eyes cold and hard as they glared at Keith. Shiro swallowed the lump forming in his throat at hearing what Lance\Kuro said. He knew the Galra were bad, but even thinking about what they could have done to Lance after him, then later Keith and some other prisoners escaped, it made him flinch.   
“I tried to get you to follow! You said you’d be in the pod with us in a few! But then you closed it and forced it out. You made me leave you!” Keith shouted and Kuro laughed.   
“That was when I thought you’d care, that you’d be back. You never came, I felt so used. You used me to help you escape their clutches, you half-breed scum!” Kuro shouted and Keith flinched. “Once they saw my potential, they offered me a way to get the respect I deserved. Something that no one gave me. Everyone, you, my hero Shiro, my friends, and everyone at the Garrison never gave me that, they all thought I was comic relief, a joke, treated me horribly since I wasn’t like you,” he sneered pointing his white and blue twisted lance’s sleek, glowing blade at Keith.   
“I found someone too, who saw something they loved,” he continued and a female Galra strode up, she was shorter than the average Galra by some inches but still towered over Kuro. “She showed me something that I’ve been lacking for too long,” he said and the female placed a hand on Kuro’s shoulder and smiled down at him. “She’s shown me respect and love. Something I thought I had with Voltron. I thought you respected me, but you don’t. I thought you loved and cared for me, like a sibling or close friend, but I was wrong about that too. I trusted you but that bit me back, I paid the price for that trust,” he said, eyes glowing with hatred toward the two. “But I gained something as well,” he looked up toward the Galra and she smiled down at him as he smiled up at her.   
“I do care about you, Lance! I never wanted to leave you there but I had no choice! Please,” he said and Kuro looked back at them his face in a frown.   
“Lies!” he said. He got into a fighting stance and the guards around them, all but the lone female Galra, were droids.   
“Don’t listen to them, my sweet,” the female said and Kuro nodded. “They mean to trick you, allow me to take care of them,” she said and Kuro nodded. She ran forward and the two knew that she was supposed to make sure Lance didn’t have a reason to leave, not to mention he might be brainwashed. Kuro’s lance changed into a bow, the bayard handle staying the same while arms for the bow were made. He pulled back on the thin string and an arrow made of what looked like a laser formed.   
“Don’t listen to her, Lance!” Keith shouted as he engaged the female in a battle with his bayard. Shiro grunted as he activated his arm and took out the droids before facing the barrage of arrows coming at him from Lance. He changed from offense to defense as he stopped the arrows from hitting himself or Keith.   
“Lance, I know your in there!” Shiro called out and Kuro laughed. “This isn’t you, Lance! I saw you a lot back at the Garrison, and now from working as a team, you were-are a great person. You wouldn’t willingly hurt anyone,” he tried and Kuro scoffed as he shot more arrows toward them.   
“You don’t know me, what I’ve been through. This is the new me. The one that’s been forming for a long time,” he said waving his arm over his body briefly.   
“No it’s not. I know the real you, Lance,” Keith said and Kuro turned toward Keith as he knocked the girl out and Kuro growled at him his face twisting into a snarl. “For all these months while we were in space, saving the universe, I got to know you like your best friend, brother even, Hunk. He also knows the real you, and this isn’t it. And while we were in Galra hands together, we became closer!” he said and Kuro’s gaze flickered from gold to his original ocean blue before going back as Kuro shook his head.   
“You don’t!” he shouted running toward them. “You don’t and you never will,” he continued as he moved his bow up and it changed back into a staff like before.   
“I do,” Keith said quietly and Kuro’s ears flicked as he heard those quiet words. Kuro roared and he lunged at Keith who dodged with ease.   
“No you don’t!” he shouted and they engaged in battle with Shiro watching, trying to find a weak point in Lance’s fighting style. Screeches rang throughout the room every time Keith’s sword grated against Lance’s staff, causing small sparks to come off also. Shiro’s brow furrowed as he thought about what to do. Before, Lance had trouble with hand-to-hand combat but since being in the arena he’s gotten better. Not to mention he can make his bayard change forms, something only Zarkon, it seemed, could do.   
“Lance, please! This isn’t you, and you know it, Blue knows it, everyone knows it! The Galra are tricking you. Using you to get Voltron,” Keith said and Kuro stepped back, panting slightly from the fight.   
“No they aren’t. They respect me! They see the potential that you failed to see and squandered. They don’t treat me like a joke, like you did. With Voltron out of the way, I’ll get the whole universe to respect me,” Kuro said and Keith shook his head.   
“No, they don’t. What you’d get from the universe wouldn’t be respect, it’d be fear. Everyone would fear you. Is that what you want? Your family to fear you, too!?” Keith shouted and Kuro hesitated just briefly. But it was long enough for Shiro. He stepped forward and knocked Kuro’s bayard away before deactivated his hand and swung it at Kuro’s head. Kuro ducked beneath the swing and swung his own punch for Shiro to dodge and they continued like that. Kuro managed to keep an eye on both of them as he attacked, making sure that neither one could sneak up. “Lance, please come back to us!” Keith shouted and Kuro stayed where he was.   
In Kuro’s head, he heard a familiar purr, like an old familiar acquaintance. His brow furrowed in confusion as he thought about this new presence since it kept coming into his head at random times.  _ My pilot! _ a female voice shouted in his head and he clamped his hands over his ears.  _ The witch Haggar is manipulating you! Fight her spell! _ she continued and Lance grunted, stumbling back slightly. He still kept his hands over his ears, eyes screwed shut as if he was in pain and Keith and Shiro watched wondering what was happening. Then they both heard their own Lion’s telling them that Blue finally was able to talk to Lance again.   
Shiro took a deep breath and ran forward while Kuro was distracted and whacked it against the back of Kuro’s head painfully hard. Kuro grunted and fell to his knees and then down, arms bent slightly by his side. The fight had taken longer than either of them would have liked but they got Lance back. At the far end of the room, a banging rang out as sentry droids and soldiers tried opening the door through sheer force.   
Shiro raised a hand and tapped his helmet and everyone’s voices came through the comms. “ _ Did you find Blue? _ ” Pidge asked.   
“ _ What about Lance, did you find him? _ ” Hunk asked and Shiro sighed in relief.   
“We found them both. Lance has changed though and unconscious, but we’ll discuss it later. Right now were trapped in the room with Blue and the only way back to our Lions are blocked by sentry droids and Galra soldiers. The only other way is through the bay door,” Shiro explained and Allura’s voice came through the comm.   
“ _ Shiro, Blue should allow you to get inside her since Lance is unconscious. You can also communicate to your Lions to fly themselves back to the Castle, _ ” she explained.   
“Alright,” Shiro responded and he then bent down and picked Lance up while Keith grabbed Lance’s bayard before running up to Blue. Her force field turned off and she lowered her head and they entered. Keith went to the pilot seat right as the Galra got the doors open and sat down, taking the controls.   
“Hold on,” Keith shouted back as he got Blue to move and head toward the hangar doors to the outside. While he did that he communicated back with Red and got her to fly back to the Castle without him flying her. Shiro held onto both Lance and the pilot chair as Keith moved them around, dodging attacks while going over to the door. Shiro closed his eyes and reached out to Black to get her to also go back to the Castle, reassuring her that they’re fine did she finally go to the Castle. They were nearing the door and Keith pressed a button which sent a beam of light at the door breaking it open.   
They flew out of the Galra battleship as the Yellow and Green Lions and the two pods continued to rain attacks down onto it. In the distance, they saw Red and Black going into Arus’s atmosphere and soon followed them down. They soon got through and saw the Castle in the distance and that Red and Black were going into the same bay which was big enough for all the Lions to land down in. Shiro picks Lance up again and carries him out of Blue and into the bay as over the speaker they heard Allura’s voice. “ _ Shiro, the battleship is destroyed. The Paladins, Liron and Fakhir should arrive soon _ ,” she called and Shiro looked to Keith.

“Allura, we’re heading to the healing pods. It’s sorta hard and weird to explain over the comms so we’ll meet you in there,” he said.

“ _ Alright, I’ll meet you there, Coran should be down there already _ ,” she said and the comms went off. Keith looked at Shiro and a wane smile reached his lips as he shrugged slightly. They continue down the hall in silence and eventually reach the healing pods. Allura arrives shortly after them and her eyes widen along with Coran’s at seeing the changes made to Lance. “Haggar,” she muttered darkly, knowing that the witch could do something like that. “Can he be changed back?” she turned to Coran and he was still looking at Lance’s unconscious body.

“Well, if we know what substances are in Lacne that aren’t normal, we can get the pod to remove those from his systems. But we’d need a completely normal, nothing has been done to their biology, human,” Coran said looking sadly at Shiro and Keith. “Sorry you two,” he said and they nodded, understanding that they weren’t really 100% normal. 

“We understand. Pidge or Hunk could help. For now, how about we put Lance in and see what the pod can do until they arrive,” Shiro suggested and they nodded. Keith then grabbed Lance’s arm and pulled him up, carrying him bridal style to the pods.

“Please come back to us, Lance. I can’t imagine doing this, saving the universe without you on our team,” Keith murmured into Lance’s ear. Lance’s modified ear twitched slightly as he settled Lance into the pod and stepped back, allowing the shield to go over him. A holograph clipboard of sorts appeared in front of Coran who stood to the side of Lance’s pod and he started going through it.

“Alright. Looks like he has a small concussion, improperly healed cuts and surgical procedures and it seems like some alien substances,” Coran listed off and Keith’s eyes widened.

“What about brainwashing or something, were they manipulate you to follow their cause?” Shiro asked and Allura looked at him curiously.

“Lance was talking about not being respected by us and how we don’t know him. But we do know him and respect him. Can the pod do something about that?” Keith said and Coran twisted his mustache in thought.

“Not really, they can’t. Though, once he comes out, Blue will be able to finally be mentally bonded to him again, she could help him. I’m sure of it,” Coran said and right then, everyone else arrived there and were demanding an explanation.

**XXX**

All Lance felt was this cold, a numbing cold that surrounded him. But the cold was slowly leaving and he heard muffled talking and he fell forward. Warm arms caught him and he held onto the person that was warm.

Keith looked down at Lance as he gripped Keith’s shirt, trying to bring the male closer to his cold body. It seemed that the pod was able to make Lance look normal, the only things that told you he was changed, his eyes had specks of gold in them and his ears were slightly pointed like an Alteans. Slowly as Lance warmed up, he blinked his eyes open and looked around, noticing where he was for the first time. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the people around him. He stumbled back and growled at everyone around him. “You’ll regret this,” he said. He then lunged at Keith, managing to knock them both to the ground. They then wrestled and everyone watched trying to figure out how to break them apart without having to hurt Lance. Suddenly the presence from before was in his head again, growling and fighting something and he yelled out.

He gripped his head as a fight seemed to go on in his head and he fell off of Keith and onto his back. His eyes were shut as he struggled on the ground trying to evade the pain that coursed through his mind. His body was jerking around and it felt to him that electricity was going through his body and he wanted it to stop. He felt arms grab him and heard a voice but he didn’t fight or pay them attention, he was trying to escape the pain in his head. But he heard the same voice from before, when he was first placed in the cold place, that person was talking again and he could understand the them.

“You’re going to be ok, Lance. We’ve got you, I’ve got you,” the voice that sounded male said and he felt that he could believe them. The cold was then there again and with it, the pain went away. The battle still raged in him but he didn’t feel the pain of it. Outside Keith continued to stare at the case in disbelief. One moment, Lance was in his arms safe the next he was attacking Keith then almost immediately he was on the ground writhing in pain. He then thought about how Kuro was Lance, and Lance had hurt him and he in turn had hurt Lance. He had a hard time understanding it and didn’t want to dwell on it. He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw that it was Shiro’s hand.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be ok,” he said and Keith nodded slowly and saw Lotor and his companions in the room. They nodded to him in reassurance too.

**XXX**

After a couple more hours in the pod, Lance came out once again stumbling out with Keith catching him and he would try burrowing into Keith for his warmth. This time though, when Lance opened his eyes he smiled softly at everyone. He looked around at their relieved faces and hugged Keith tightly, muttering about how scared he was and how he was scared they’d never get him out. Everyone then went to him and Keith and did a group hug. Lotor and his friends watched from the sides as they watched the Paladins reunite. Keith hugged Lance tighter to him and murmured encouraging words to Lance.

“I was so worried about you Lance. Especially when you forced me and the other prisoners away leaving you with the Galra,” Keith muttered. “It was there, I realized I have feelings for you, please, I-i….I love you Lance,” he muttered Lance stiffened at hearing the words. Keith went tense himself and started pulling back only for Lance to pull him back and hugged him tighter.

“I love ya too,” Lance muttered. “That’s part of the reason I made you go in the pod. I didn’t want to risk you getting captured again, you’ve been through enough in the prisons,” Lance whispered and Keith felt tears pool in his eyes at those words and hugged Lance even tighter while burying his head in Lance’s neck, trying to hide his tears.

“I would rather face those pains for you instead of having you suffer for me,” Keith said and he felt Lance tuck his head into his own neck and felt the tears escaping Lance’s eyes. “But you’re here, and I’ll make sure you’re safe from anymore suffering,” he promised and Lance nodded crying again and he felt the others come in again and another hug happened as everyone cried in joy at being together again.

**Here's what they other two weapons look like!!:**

**[Lance's lance](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/4WiIPTDY9gBbRJ0mvdPu9seAQz4C2a-RlVdo_qcvcornkwwCu4VW9_j0oTHV3BRS1t14rORKTAfHSmI=w1600-h770) **

**[Lance's bow](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/GTbxTU0v5jOghiGZe-ORjQkwU3i2eTYuWM0ENB7sKqqUp3SGoe9TT3uNApNy247uC_e1I70yXhWhWAY=w1600-h770-rw) **

**both of these are made by fantastic Tumblr artist that I could not find their accounts again. if either you are the artist or you know the artist, please tell me so I can give them the recognition they deserve!!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so that’s it!! If you’re wondering, Lance still has the better eyesight and hearing, and his bayard still changes into the different forms!! Also, sorry for it being long! Ok, i’m going to bed now, it’s almost 11:50 here. NIGHT!

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so ya, this will hopefully be only two chaps, but we’ll see. And Lance will be back, we’ll be seeing what happened to him slightly when Haggar showed up in his cell! *sarcastic* Ya! Ok, so bye! I shall be writing the second chap for this story now!!! I didn't edit this because it made the site crash. if you notice any mistakes tell me and I'll fix them, that goes to the spanish too!


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